@oobiyah. Thanks to your very detailed and direct comments I went with red out on 1800's original red oak floors with bona naturals and matte finish!! I LOVE IT! in the picture the first 2 rooms are original and the room in the distance is new white oak with same sealer and finish. no pink undertones on the original red oak.

@Jay S glad the assessment helped you, your floors look great. I’m a realtor in DC/VA and your home looks like a DC row house, maybe we are neighbors!

Good eye!

Hey everyone, this thread has been very helpful and also a bit worrying. My first reno! lots of learning.

I took some red oak out from a house nearby (BC Canada) and installed it in my new place, didnt quite have enough and ended up matching it from the original manufacturer in Quebec. The new stuff is definitely pinker, although it doesn't bother me much.

I originally wanted to get that muted white look which i am still after but a-lot of talk on here about pinks which is worrying me. some of the photos look fine in my opinion. The only photo i find worrying is @Jpm Construction Contracting Inc 's where a couple boards look straight up yellow, against some pink ones and that would do my head in. @Jpm Construction Contracting Inc do you have any more photos?

Product arrived yesterday and I will begin process tomorrow morning.... or maybe reassess after more reading today :) Now debating if i should order natural seal instead and wait another two weeks. However i am a very impatient person.

-1 treatment of red out

-2 coats nordic seal

3 coats Traffic HD

I had my floor professionally levelled and prepped and its stunning at the moment and ive been tip toeing around the house in bootie covers all week waiting for this stuff to arrive. I love the look of it now and tempted to scrap the red out and just get going. The other thing i am worried about and curious if anyone can comment or advise on is the need to "de-nib" after the red out due to the opening of the grain structure resulting in grain rise. once i wait for the floor to dry and get back to within 1% moisture of baseline and then use a tampico buffing pad (can i use the red pad? or better softer white pad) will i risk putting in scratch marks with that or are those pads too soft to risk scratching? BONA recommends this or else ill have to sand in between seal coats which i want to avoid doing any more of. Thoughts?

All in all so far the total cost for me to do this and having tried to save money by getting some used wood was in vain. I could have had nice stuff installed for a very similar price. But it has been enjoyable and i've learned some valuable lessons. Just hope they turn out nice. Definitely nervous for this last step. Any tips or encouraging words welcome! :D

Some photos below of progress and will update through out the process for reference.

It looks more beautiful in person

Here is another one.  My husband said we did 2 coats and a seal not 3 coats.  The more coats you do the darker it becomes. It's gorgeous in person. Pictures don't do justice.

that does look great! fingers crossed i come out with a nice finished product!

@C s that looks very nice. after sanding down old floor, 2 coats of nordic seal and 1 coat of mega?

Also did you do a matte finish?

Here are my samples. The first picture is during the day and the second is with artificial light at night (3000K). The top sample is the red out after application and dried at night. There is no stain on it yet. The others are Bona Grey, white, bottom left is Birch and bottom right is Sand Dune. I’ll update these once I try some stains on the red out portion.

So i applied the Red Out, and had some interesting effects (see below photos) . I use products like these at work on ships to make the teak decking "pop" prior to guest arrival so a two part wash is not foreign to me and i am sure i didn't apply it incorrectly.

I have two lots of wood and its definitely reacted differently with the older red oak compared to the new red oak.

On the older red oak it turned the pink boards a nice white, and then the already whiteish boards went a very awful yellowy green colour and then 80% of the darker boards went very very dark.

On the newer red oak floors it worked a charm, eliminating alot of the red pigment and giving a nice effect.

I then spent the next day hand sanding individual boards i was unhappy with in the older red oak area, to get the colour back from before the application. this worked nicely and you can see below photo before and after with the darker boards brought back down. and the yellower/green ones as well.

there were also 4 planks in the reclaimed red oak that after the red out process cracks appeared and the grain split in several parts and lifted dramatically. most likely there before and then once they were wet it raised them enough to be seen. They had to be cut out with a razor blade and filled again. luckily they were in areas where i wont notice them .

All in all the red out worked very good but on the older wood it had some very strange effects which added a bit more work.

Nordic Seal;

Excellent product but a but tricky to use, due to the pigment you have to really be on your game with moving that wet edge and not letting it stand too long or you get funny patches that look extra cloudy or lines in where the puddle sat. First coat was a horrorshow as i had never used this kind of product before. Had a day of a few small repairs and touch ups. let that sit over night, abraded and then applied the second coat which went much smoother with the practice the day before. the overall look was great. If i did it again i might have stopped with one coat as the red out had done a good job and the boards looked more clear. The second coat almost covered them up too much in my opinion and a little part of me really liked just the one coat.

I gently abraded that second coat again (240)

Traffic HD [satin];

Another great product and was very easy to use. Great self levelling characteristics, went down easy and looks great two coats of that no problems. Debating a third now. Also debating wether i should have gone with the Matt. Have had loads of compliments so far and everyone seems to think they look really nice. Im still on the fence as i think the matt would look really good.

Does anyone know if i abraded and put down a coat of the matt would it look matt or would it be impeded by the two satin coats underneath? Will they react ok?

Let me know your thoughts.

Red Out Application:

PartA down, following over with PartB

Part B drying part

Red Out before and Afters;

Hand Sanding darker or greener boards back.

First coat of Nordic Seal:

Second Coat of Nordic Seal;

Finish Traffic HD Satin (2 coats):

We just completed our floors (through a flooring company) and we are so happy with them. Without the red out on the same floor it was very pink. This was one coat red out, bona natural, and hd traffic satin. This picture makes it look a touch more yellow than it really is- it’s a very beautiful light natural color with no pink!

Thank you for all of this!! Great feedback!!

@C s your floors look great! We did a sample of the bona nordic and it doesn't look pink at all on my floors either. Waiting for them to apply a topcoat on the sample so I can really see.

So you did two coats Bona Nordic and 1 coat of which top coat? Thank you!

@Michelle Brannen - your floor looks good to me! Is this an existing/refinished floor, or new wood? Some other people seem to see a difference with Red Out on old/new wood, and we would potentially have 17 y/o refinished laced in with new wood to expand the wood floor to additional rooms. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you we love them! We had about 20 year old redwood laced with new redwood- we did make sure the variety of redwood was the same as I think that can make a difference according to our flooring place. I would say there was one spot on the new wood that for some reason is a bit more pink but not on the other new wood. Honestly there is so much variation in the wood though it does not bother me at all.

@Michelle Brannen could you clarify? is your floor red oak or redwood?

Sorry red oak!

Does anyone have pictures of 3 coats of Bona Nordic on red oak? We just did two coats and they are saying to wait 24 hours but we are seeing pink. It looks great but def pink undertones

I don’t have a photo Bc I used natural. It had been two years now and what I want to mention is to make sure- regardless of whatever you choose-to have a couple of HD High traffic coats or very good sealer. I already have to have my floors refinished. They scratched very easily and every mark is noticeable.

Thanks! Yes we plan on using two coats of the HD Traffic sealer. Here are the floors so far.

It’s hard to tell in the picture, they are lighter but also pinker in person

Michelle BrannenYour floors look great.

Do you know how many coats of natural seal and HD Traffic you used?

Also, did you go for a matte or satin finish?

We applied the natural seal on our floors but it looks pinkish. So looking to have them re-do it and apply the redout first. Happy to hear that it did not turn out super yellow.

Thank you! two coats natural one coat satin finish. We definitely did not like the samples they did on our floor without the red out - way too pink. and no not too yellow, some yellow but mostly just light and pretty! id recommend testing on your own floor.

I will try the Red Out the next round as well. Lots of good info. Thank you

Do you know if you can use the red out after two coats of Nordic seal? I’m not sure if that’s possible but if it is I’m not sure if we should do that or another round of Nordic seal

No, Red Out has to be applied after sanding. The sequence is sand, red out, nordic seal, nordic seal, hd traffic, hd traffic.

Nordic seal by itself won’t remove the pink. Even with red out, if you have red oak, your floors will be more peach. Better than pink, and a nice color, but not just like white oak.

Yeah we spoke to the contractor today who said it doesn’t work well on red oak.

Does three coats of Nordic seal make the wood less grainy?

Heath, you likely already tackled this, but a light sand before applying finish (matte or satin) will make it smoother.

We did a test sample of two coats bona nordicseal and are seeing lots of orangey pink. left is bare wood and right is test sample. Would red out fix the super orange or any suggestions?

We have red oak floors that we just sanded and restained. I wanted to keep them as natural as possible while trying to cut some of the peach/orange.. and I wanted to stay on the lighter side. The sub who was doing our floors was adamant that Bona Red Out doesn't work.. he said he tried it in a house before mine and that it didn't do anything or make a difference. He seemed pessimistic about anything being able to help the red/pink in the floors. He did a sample of 50% country white stain with 50% neutral and because I didn't want them to feel whitewashed and didn't want to bleach, I felt just trying a slight stain would be my best bet. Then we did the Bona Natural Seal on top of it. My contractor said we didn't need the Bona Traffic that that's just for hotels or something. Here are some pictures before and then I haven't fully seen the floors yet but can only see small parts of them.. they were just finished. They definitely still have a pink hue but they also look pretty. It seems like just a subtle change to their natural state. Like some people I was worried that Bona Nordic would go too pink.. Bona Natural seemed like a safer bet. Not sure if thats true. I think probably what I ended up with is something close to one coat of Bona Nordic since I did a light stain with the Natural. I will post more photos when we can see the floors in full :)

Oh it was also confusing because I tried the Bona Natural, Nordic, and Classic Seals all next to each other as samples and literally could barely tell any difference at all between them.. I basically decided on Natural based on what I read about it so it was kind of a gamble.

Above are the Bona "Natural" on the left, "Classic" in the middle and "Nordic" on the right on top of the 50/50 country white/neutral stain. I couldn't tell much of a difference and my floor guy just shrugged and said "yeah its not going to do anything" :/. Like I said I just went with Natural as a safe bet.

This is how they look now, I haven't been able to see them fully yet. Staying hopeful and positive knowing there aren't a lot of options with this situation anyway! Would love to hear your comments.

For red oak, it's best to go as light as possible. Over time the tannins will come through and change the color. You will end up with a peachy floor after a few years. So, going with a Nordic color will prolong the process.

G & S Floor Service thank you- what do you think about having used a 50% country white stain with Bona Natural Sealer? Do you think this also accomplishes that?

You cannot mix stain and sealer. Did you mean applying natural seal over country white? If so, that will be fine.

G & S Floor Service thank you! You are correct I did not mean mixing them. Yes, I meant that we applied Bona natural seal over country white. We did 50% country white with a neutral stain and then Bona Natural Seal on top. Do you see this having the problems you were talking about? I'm wondering if doing Bona Nordic alone without stain would have been better, or if my combo is pretty much creating the same result.

Update on our floors! Im happy with how the 1/2 country white stain and Bona Natural Sealer turned out. :)

@Dreamingangeltarot, thank tou for sharing! im attempting for a third time to gwt my floors right :/ I did Bona natural over red oak, and they are straight PEACH! Im curious what you did exactly- Duraseal country white 50/50 with neutral Duraseal? Then Bona natural on top right? Do you think you could have gone without the Natural on top, and just do the traffic hd? Thank you for your help with this nightmare!

Has anyone done or is it possible to use a coat of Bona Natural and a coat of Bona Nordic followed by two coats of Bona Traffic on Red Oak? We're really having a hard time deciding right now and we need to decide quickly so we can move on with the reno. If anyone could explain how the Natural and Nordic would work together and in which order you would do them if possible that would be great. Also, any pics of a finished product using these combinations on Red Oak would be great. Thanks!

Casa Rutherford- sorry im just now seeing this! here is the exact recipe according to my floor guy

50/50 country white and paint thinner mix

One coat Bona Natural

Two coats Bona (mega one)

Update since last i posted is that thd floors ended up a little too matte in texture. They came back, buffed, and put a coat of bona satin traffic on them for added protection. This did not change the color however and the pics I posted were before that addition.

My floors looked peach to me in the beginning too but as i got used to them i realized they were really pretty it just took a bit of time to sit with. Most people seem to have better luck with nordic seal but I just didnt want that look I wanted them to retain more natural color.

simply posting to show the transformation on our red oak floors as this feed was very helpful throughout this process

completed with two coats of Bona Nordic and one Bona Satin Traffic HD

Beautiful! And glad you went with the traffic. I already have to redo my floors! Can you believe it? I’m going to go with a different contractor. The last one did very shoddy work. Yours looks fabulous and I hope it withstands the rest of time! Enjoy!

@Taylor S Did you use red out first? I think we want to go nordic on our floors but would like to skip the red out step if possible!

You should use the red out if you have red oak. Updating flooring is such a big job, you really only have one shot to get it right, unless you want to pay to have them all redone again. Using red out adds to the cost a bit and adds a day or two with the dry time required, but is well worth it. As noted in my previous comments, even with red out, if you have red oak and use bona nordic, you’ll still have ”peachy” floors (ie not the grey tones of white oak) but they will definintely be less pink. I did red out, then two coats of bona nordic, followed by two HD traffic. I did a matte finish but satin is also nice. The attached photo shows new red oak on the left blended into the original 100-year-old red oak on the right.

It is very important that you work with a flooring company that is familair with bona products and follows bona’s guidance. The method of application and dry times matter.

@emma-kate schaake we did not! I was planning on it but after speaking with the contractor, he had said there would be no need. Our floors are truly perfect now.

@Taylor S

which bona color did you use? nordic white? i also have red oak and am afraid nordic whiite will be too light i really want to go with a warmer tone….closer to white oak natural color thoughts?

Just go with Nordic seal. It will color change and turn a light blonde over time.

@Sarah Lopez-Calleja we did 2 coats bona nordic and then satin seal, definitely looks similar to white oak.

I was also looking for that warm neutral palette and this did just that.

We had ordered white oak vent covers and they were a PERFECT match. Our friends had asked if we stained them, which we did not (thats how close in color it was)

Has anyone tried duraseal 50% country whit 50% fruitwood on red oak?

I ended up using 3 coats total: first Nordic, second megaONE, third traffic HD extra matte commercial - did this 6 years ago and my floors get compliments all the time, every person that visits asks for the secret and have used it for their renovations. A perk of using mega one instead of 2 Nordic’s is price.